Six Guantanamo detainees in Cuba transferred to Uruguay
Six Guantanamo detainees have been transferred to Uruguay from the American military base in Cuba, where 136 detainees remain, the Pentagon said.
Six Guantanamo detainees have been transferred to Uruguay from the American military base in Cuba, where 136 detainees remain, the Pentagon said.
Among the inmates transferred was Syrian prisoner Jihad Diyab, 43, who had staged a hunger strike and requested a US court to order prison officials to stop force-feeding him.
The six men - including three other Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian - received an "approved for transfer" from US authorities and left the military base on a US air force plane yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Myles Caggins said.
There are still 136 prisoners at Guantanamo, most of whom are detained without charge or facing trial. Sixty-seven of them have been approved for release by the successive governments of George W Bush and Barack Obama.
Yesterday's transfers follow the release of seven prisoners in November.
"We are very grateful to Uruguay for this important humanitarian action, and to President (Jose) Mujica for his strong leadership in providing a home for individuals who cannot return to their own countries," special envoy for Guantanamo closure Cliff Sloan said.
"The support we are receiving from our friends and allies is critical to achieving our shared goal of closing Guantanamo, and this transfer is a major milestone in our efforts to close the facility."
Uruguay's leftist President Jose Mujica announced in March that the South American country would take in the inmates on humanitarian grounds in an effort to help Obama fulfil his long-delayed promise to close the military prison in Cuba. A total of 779 prisoners have been held at Guantanamo in the nearly 13 years since the military detention centre was set up in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
